Washington, DC (September 9, 2007) - D.C. United Reserves and the New England Revolution Reserves played to a 1-1 draw Sunday evening at RFK Stadium. A sixth minute penalty by the Revolution's Miguel Gonzalez, followed one minute later by a strike from Guy-Roland Kpene were the only tallies of the evening. New England's record following tonight's game is 5-3-1, while United moves to 4-1-4.
New England had the first good chance of the game in the third minute when Wells Thompson carried the ball into Uniteds goal box. The midfielder got off a shot from 15 yards, but goalkeeper Jay Nolly deflected the ball skyward and recovered to knock the ball out of harm's way.
The Revolution went up when a lofted ball found its way into the box. It fell between United defender Brad North and New England's Abdoulie Mansally. As North attempted to clear the ball from just inside the goal box, he instead found Mansally's chest. The referee immediately pointed to the penalty spot and the Revolution's Miguel Gonzalez stepped up to take the kick. The midfielder's shot was true, as he hit the ball to Nolly's left while the goalkeeper dove to his right.
United answered as quickly as a team is able, however, moving the ball into New England's side of the field off the kickoff. Nicholas Addlery carried the ball down the right side of the field, shed one New England defender and then played a diagonal ball into the box where Guy-Roland Kpene was waiting. The forward struck the ball first time and beat goalkeeper Doug Warren at the far post.
Thompson almost put New England up in the 20th minute when he colleted a poor clearance 20 yards from goal. The midfielder took one touch to control and then smashed a well-driven ball towards the far upper corner. Nolly went fully horizontal towards the ball and just managed to tip it over the bar.
The 1-1 score line would stand at halftime and prove to be the only goals of the match.
Play throughout the second half opened up immensely, as both teams grew tired in the heat. The back-and-forth affair would not yield any goals, as the best chance of the half came in the 83rd minute. The Revolution's Abdoulie Mansally slipped through to goal when Chris Loftus played a nice ball behind United's backline. Mansally struck the ball low towards the far post, but second half substitute Ronnie Pascale was able to deflect the ball wide.
Scoring:
NE - Miguel Gonzalez (penalty) 6
DCU - Guy-Roland Kpene (Nicholas Addlery) 7
Lineups:
New England Reserves: Doug Warren, Amaechi Igwe, James Riley, Marshall Leonard, Gary Flood, Bryan Byrne, Miguel Gonzalez, Wells Thompson (Anders Kelto 46), Sainey Nyassi (Geoff Walker 63), Abdoulie Mansally, Chris Loftus.
Substitutes not used: Kyle Helton
D.C. United Reserves: Jay Nolly (Ronnie Pascale 73), Brad North, Jeff Carroll, Kelvin Jones, Stephen deRoux, Justin Moose, Bryan Arguez, Rod Dyachenko, Domenic Mediate (Ronny Amaguana 56), Nicholas Addelry, Guy-Roland Kpene (Mira Mupier 46). Substitutes not used: none.
Misconduct summary:
DCU - Addlery (caution) 7
NE - Igwe (caution) 67
